Friday, June 28, 2013

"God is our refuge and
strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" (Psalm 46:1-3)An
idol is anything you turn to for help when God told you to turn to Him for
help.--
Henry Blackaby#3247

Thursday, June 27, 2013

We live in tentative times,
but the words of God's story carry weight.The Bible says that the Word of God is alive, active, sharper than a
two-edged sword, and profitable to teach truth, rebuke sin, correct errant
ways, and train people up in righteousness.So while we face craziness on every level imaginable, we rest in the knowledge
that God has provided a path to peace.All people can be rock-solid sure of His presence for all of eternity
instead of trembling at the thought of facing a dreadful afterlife.In heaven's reality, a
perfect environment exists, full of rich relationship, beauty, joy, peace, and
rest.Just imagine it!There will be no worry about recession, no
fear of terrorism, no distress over disease, no confusion, and no chaos.Just perfection -- pure, unadulterated perfection.-- Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room#3246

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Lord does not see as man
sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart:
(1 Samuel 16:7)Those words were written for
the haggatons of society, for misfits
and outcasts.God uses them all.Moses ran from justice, but
God used him. Jonah ran from God, but God used him.Rahab ran a brothel, Samson
ran to the wrong woman, Jacob ran in circles, Elijah ran into the mountains,
Sarah ran out of hope, Lot ran with the wrong
crowd, but God used them all.And David?God saw a teenage boy serving him in the
backwoods of Bethlehem,
at the intersection of boredom and anonymity, and through the voice of a
brother, God called, “David!Come
in.Someone wants to see you.”Human eyes saw a gangly teenager enter the
house, smelling like sheep and looking like he needed a bath.Yet, “the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for
this is the one!’”(1 Samuel 16:12)God saw what no one else
saw: a God-seeking heart.David, for all
his foibles, sought God like a lark seeks sunrise.He took after God’s heart, because he stayed
after God’s heart.In the end, that is all
God wanted or needed…wants or needs.Others measure your waist size or wallet.Not God.He examines hearts.When He finds
one set on Him, He calls it and claims it.-- Max Lucado in Facing Your Giants#3245

Monday, June 24, 2013

More
than anything else, God our Father manifests His presence in special ways when
two or three are gathered together (Matt. 18:20). When the family gathers, the
Father is always present and active. He speaks to the family. He gives gifts in
the family. He gives direction to the family. He gives His power to the family.
Apart from God’s family a Christian will never be pleasing to the Father. When
Christians are joined with the family, the Father is free to pour out His
blessing into our lives, even as He continually does to all that are related to
Him.--
Henry Blackaby and Melvin D. Blackaby in Experiencing God Together: God's
Plan to Touch Your World#3243

Friday, June 21, 2013

We
have taught our people to use prayer too much as a means of comfort -- not in
the original and heroic sense of uplifting, inspiring, strengthening, but in
the more modern and baser sense of soothing sorrow, dulling pain, and drying
tears -- the comfort of the cushion, not the comfort of the Cross.--
G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929)#3242

Thursday, June 20, 2013

It
is through dying to concern for self that we are born to new life with God and
others; in such dying and rebirth, we find that life is lent to be spent; and
in such spending of what we are lent, we find there is an infinite supply.--
Glenn Olds#3241

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

In
community we catch the contagious quality of faith and hope.Gathering stokes the flames of each member of
the group.We encourage one another.(Encourage literally means to put courage into, to give heart!)We become more in Christ because of the
influence of friends.We talk one
another into things.We take bolder
action that we might otherwise avoid.We
follow Christ more eagerly.-- Robert Schnase in Five
Practices of Fruitful Living#3240

Monday, June 17, 2013

Whatever our traps, our inner prisons, our
hopelessness, our gray, rigid lifestyles, our resigned, mediocre expectations,
God longs to free us.God longs for us
to rise with fully spread, powerful wings, no longer helpless, cringing
children, but renewed and bold, close to God's heart.The summer I was twenty-one, I was leaving home for
my first job two thousand miles away, in a western state where we had no
friends.I think back to my mother and
how she must have felt as she helped me choose my suitcases and buy my
ticket.I think, with awed gratitude,
how she did NOT offer to drive me there and to help me get settled.I remember her expression when she learned
there was no doctor or railroad or airport nearer than fifty miles from where I
was to be located.I saw her expression,
but I also saw how she refrained from protest."Spread your beautiful wings, darling," were her releasing
words as I boarded the train.I have carried those empowering words of release in
my heart ever since, especially when facing new adventure and feeling timidity
and old habit holding me down.It is
God's voice.-- Flora Slosson Wuellner in
Prayer, Fear, and Our Powers, published by The
Upper Room, Nashville, TN.Used with permission.#3238

Friday, June 14, 2013

"Whoever
wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and
whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] came not to be served but
to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:26b-28
NLT)My
primary role [as a husband and father] is not to be "the boss" and
just look good but to be a servant leader who enables and enhances my family to
be their best. -- Tim Hansel#3237

Friday, June 7, 2013

The Christian life is a gift of God, an expression of
God's grace in Christ, the result of an undeserved and unmerited offering of
love toward us.Every step of the
journey toward Christ is preceded by, made possible by, and sustained by the
perfecting grace of God.However, becoming the person that God desires us to
become is also the fruit of a persistent and deeply personal quest, an active
desire to love God, to allow God's love to lead us.The fruitful life is cultivated by placing
ourselves in the most advantageous places to see, receive, learn, and
understand the love that has been offered in Christ.-- Robert Schnase in Five Practices of Fruitful Living#3236

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Consider Zacchaeus.Luke 19.2 says that Zacchaeus was a wealthy
tax collector living for money.He was a
self-proclaimed money monger, but after he had dinner with Jesus Christ,
everything changed.On the other side of
that meal, Zacchaeus declared that he would pay back every dollar, every cent,
that he had stolen and extorted from people, and that he would give half of his
net worth to the poor.Do you have a
hunch regarding the tale he told in future conversations when someone said,
"So, Zacchaeus, what's up with your God thing?"I can just hear Zacchaeus
now:"I'll tell you what happened
-- it was unbelievable!I fell into a
pattern where my whole life was wrapped up in money.The grip of greed was so strong that I
couldn't break free.It distorted every
relationship I had.But then I met
Jesus.And you know what?Jesus set me free from the tyranny of greed.He taught me how to care -- really care --
about people, particularly the poor.That's what Jesus did for me -- He unhooked me from unhealthy habits and
got me pointed in a new direction."You know the questions I'm
going to ask.How many times do you
think Zacchaeus told that particular before-and-after story?Yes, hundreds of times.And in my estimation, sharing our stories of Christ's
impact in our lives doesn't have to be any more complicated that this.-- Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room#3235

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Intimacy
connotes familiarity and closeness.It
involves our deepest nature, and it is marked by a warm friendship developed
through long association.In order for
us to become intimate with another, we must find in him or her a true confidant
-- one in whom we can safely confide our secrets.What
are the characteristics of such a true friend?Most of us look for someone we respect as wise and just; one we can
trust implicitly; one we feel safe and secure with; one who will respond to us,
help us in the right way, and be available whenever we want to share.True confidants are rare, and fortunate are
those who have one.There
is One who meets these criteria perfectly: the Keeper of souls who never
sleeps, who calls us into fellowship -- "Call to Me, and I will answer
you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know"
(Jeremiah 33:3).The marvelous
affirmation of the psalmists is that the Creator of the vast universe is also
our intimate Confidant.--
Cynthia Heald in Intimacy with God#3234

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Only God knows your full
potential, and He is guiding you toward that best version of yourself all the
time.He has many tools and is never in
a hurry.That can be frustrating for us,
but even in our frustration, God is at work to produce patience in us.He never gets discouraged by how long it
takes, and He delights every time you grow.Only God can see the “best version of you,” and He is more concerned
with you reaching your full potential than you are."For we are God’s
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)You are not your handiwork; your life is not your
project.Your life is God’s project.God thought you up, and He knows what you
were intended to be.He has many good
works for you to do, but they are not the kind of “to do” lists we give spouses
or employees.They are sign-posts to
your true self.Your “spiritual life” is not
limited to certain devotional activities that you engage in.It is receiving power from the Spirit of God
to become the person God had in mind when He created you -- His handiwork.-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want to Be#3233

Monday, June 3, 2013

Martyrs teach us many
things, and chief among them is the immense worth of our faith and at the same
time the worthlessness of much that pretends to have value…We are cajoled into
bowing down every day before the altar of television, in the corridors of the
shopping mall, in the intricacies of our minds, in the thousand little
decisions we make hourly.And it is our
noble privilege to join the ranks of the martyrs and resolutely declare,
"We will not serve your gods and we will not worship the statue you have
set up" -- no matter what the cost. --
James C. Howell in Servants, Misfits, and Martyrs#3232

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Welcome to SOUND BITES

By David T. Wilkinson

Over the years I have collected quotes that pertain to the Christian faith and life in general. As I have read or studied what others have written, I have been struck by the profound thought that is captured in their few short words. These quotes have been shared through SOUND BITES Ministry™ , a five-day-a-week inspirational e-mail ministry, and now are shared through this blog as well. You will also find us on Facebook by clicking SOUND BITES Ministry on Facebook.

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How SOUND BITES came to be

During Lent 1999 God prompted me to think about a new idea as to how I might share these thoughts with a broader audience. At the same time, our family was experiencing the first anniversary of the death of our son, Dustin, who died at the age of sixteen from a brain tumor. So, beginning on that anniversary, March 29, 1999 we began an e-mail ministry in memory of Dustin that we call SOUND BITES: Something to chew on that is good for the soul™. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, I share one of these quotes with subscribers. Hopefully recipients find something of faith and life to think about and chew on, which feeds their soul and helps them grow spiritually. Since its inception, over 4,000 daily quotes have been sent out. The subscriber list continues to grow numerically and geographically with subscribers in every state in the U.S., and also in Canada, Mexico, and numerous other countries around the world. Currently more than 2000 subscribers receive SOUND BITES directly via e-mail and many others second hand. Now through this blog we expand our outreach even more. To read comments on the 13th anniversary of SOUND BITES Ministry™, click 13th Anniversary Comments.